September/October 2022

Aluminium
WARM TO ITS CORE
Have next generation energy aluminium products stepped into the space previously occupied
by hybrid PVC-U-aluminium systems? Total Fabricator hears if this is the case from Decalu
customer, Scarborough-based SWC Trade Frames’ Sales Director Mark Catchpole...
Part L makes thermal efficiency an even more
critical element in window and door design,
something, which should in theory generate big
opportunities for hybrid aluminium PVC-U systems.
So where are they and why aren’t they having a
bigger impact on the market than they are?
“We used to manufacture Warmcore”, said Mark
Catchpole, Sales Director SWC.
“As a Synseal product it was great. It was a very
progressive system and it delivered a lot of USP’s
and ultimately meant that we could manufacture
a great door.
“The market at that time was still, however,
relatively new and retail potential that we saw in
the product didn’t really translate into sales. I’m
not sure our customers necessarily saw the value.
“If you fast forward to summer 2022, it should
have been a perfect opportunity for us to grow
market share because of the level of thermal
performance now required under Part L.
“For us, however, that ship sailed because of the
supply challenges that we saw in the last couple of
years. It simply wasn’t workable for us, so we had
to bring in an aluminium product to replace it.”
The current set of market forces lend themselves to
energy efficient products. On the one hand there’s
the regulatory ‘whip’ in the form of Part L which
bring in a notional U-value for newbuild sector of a
minimum of 1.2W/m 2 k for windows and the same
for doors with more than a 60% glazed area.
For the home improvement market, the minimum
requirement for replacement windows is now
1.4W/m 2 k or WER Band B, and replacement doors
with more than a 60% glazed area have to be
able to achieve 1.4W/m 2 k or DER Band C.
Perhaps more significant still is the leap seen in
SWC decided to switch to
Decalu earlier this year
energy prices and the lifting of the energy price
cap in April. These pushed average household
energy bills for anyone not lucky enough to be on
a fixed tariff to just under £2,000.
A further price increase in October could push
average bills even higher to £2,600 by the autumn
reaching as much as £2,900 by March next year.
“The industry doesn’t have a great track record of
selling energy efficiency”, continued Mark. “We were
one of the first fabricators to offer double glazed
units with a centre pane U-value of 1.0W/m 2 k and do
“We were one of the first fabricators
to offer double glazed units with a
centre pane U-value of 1.0W/m 2 k
and do you know how many we’ve
sold? Zero”
you know how many we’ve sold? Zero”, he said.
“That’s because as an industry we aren’t good
at selling the benefits. It might only cost the
homeowner an extra few pounds per frame, but it
pushes the U-value down and saves them money.
“It was a little bit like that with Warmcore. Installers
defaulted to traditional aluminium systems based on
price rather than upselling performance.”
These ‘traditional aluminium systems’ are now,
he argues, exposed. Mark pins this on a failure to
20 T F SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2022 CONNECTING THE WINDOW, DOOR & ROOF FABRICATION SUPPLY CHAIN